Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Infobox Museum
name= Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum


established= 1897
location= 2 East 91st Street at 5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York
latitude= 40.7844
longitude= -73.9582
director= Paul Warwick Thompson [ [http://www.cooperhewitt.org/ABOUT/ Official Site] ]
website= [http://www.cooperhewitt.org www.cooperhewitt.org] The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institution, is the United States' national museum of design history and contemporary design and the only museum in the U.S. whose collection is solely focused on design. The museum is located in the former Andrew Carnegie Mansion at Fifth Avenue and East 91st Street, part of Manhattan's famed Museum Mile. In addition to its permanent collection and regular exhibits, the museum presents the annual National Design Awards in more than ten categories, "celebrating the best in American design." The Museum also offers a Master of Arts program in the History of Decorative Arts and DesignCite web|url=http://cooperhewitt.org/EDU/masters.asp|title=Master's Program|accessdate=2008-03-19|publisher=Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum] in cooperation with Parsons School of Design. Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E3DC113AF93BA1575AC0A9669C8B63|title=Reimagining a Design Museum|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=2000-09-28|author=Julie V. Iovine|work=The New York Times]

History

The collection of decorative arts and drawings founded in 1897 by Amy, Eleanor, and Sarah Hewitt, the granddaughters of industrialist Peter Cooper, and daughters of Abram S. Hewitt, Mayor of New York in 1887–88, the Museum was initially part of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE3DD163DF937A25756C0A963958260|title=A Glittering Legacy|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=1995-05-14|work=The New York Times]

Building

The main museum building is the Andrew Carnegie Mansion, completed in 1903, a National Historic Landmark.Cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e50a1686-f234-11dc-9b45-0000779fd2ac.html|title=Rococo: The Continuing Curve, 1730-2008|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=2008-03-15|author=Sarah Murray|work=Financial Times] Andrew Carnegie, the American steel magnate and philanthropist, lived there until his death in 1919, and the neighborhood in which the museum is located became known as Carnegie Hill.Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE4DF1238F932A05756C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=If You're Thinking of Living In:; Carnegie Hill|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=1987-05-31|author=Mark McCain|work=The New York Times] The Carnegie Corporation gave the house and property to the Smithsonian in 1972,Cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/writeups/66000536.nl.pdf|title=Andrew Carnegie Mansion|accessdate=2008-03-19|publisher=National Parks Service|year=2007-01|work=National Register Information System] and the modern incarnation of the Museum opened there as a Smithsonian Institution in 1976.Cite web|url=http://www.150.si.edu/sibuild/coop.htm|title=Buildings of SI: Cooper-Hewitt|accessdate=2008-03-19|publisher=The Smithsonian Institution|work=Buildings of the Smithsonian Institution]

In 1995, the building was renovated to improve the study center and handicapped accessCite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-833689.html|title=Designs on Cooper-Hewitt|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=1995-05-18|author=Nancy L. Ross|work=The Washington Post] following a re-branding and re-naming the previous year.Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E2DB173AF931A1575AC0A962958260|title=A Graphic Change for Cooper-Hewitt|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=1994-09-22|work=The New York Times] The interior was redesigned by the architectural firm, Polshek and Partners, headed by James Polshek in 2001.

Collection

The Museum contains more than 250,000 objects ranging from Shang Dynasty bronzes to the present; it is organized into four curatorial departments: Applied Arts and Industrial Design, Drawings and Prints, Textiles, and Wallcoverings. The museum also contains a research library containing 60,000 volumes. Among its holdings the Cooper Hewitt possesses a Michelangelo drawing for a seven-branched candelabrum. It was identified in the Museum's drawings collection by Sir Timothy Clifford, director of the National Galleries of Scotland, while on a sabbatical at the museum in April 2002.

The collection also includes a library, archives, product design and decorative arts, drawings, prints, graphic design, and textiles and wall coverings. citation | title= Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum: About | publisher=ARTINFO | year=2008 | url= http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/22117/8635/about/cooper-hewitt-national-design-museum-new-york/ | accessdate=2008-07-28 ]

National Design Week

National Design Week, founded in 2006 "in recognition of design's continuing resonance in our daily lives."Cite web|url=http://www.dexigner.com/product/news-g9379.html|title=National Design Week|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=2006-10-14|work=Dexigner] The program's goal is to draw attention to the ways that design enriches everyday life, through outreach to school teachers and their students, and partnerships with design organizations across the country. Museum admission is free during the week to increase visitation and understanding of design.National Design Week and the National Design Education Center is supported by Target.Cite web|url=http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/retail/article/worlds-innovative-company-profile-target_519401_7.html|title=World's Most Innovative Company Profile: Target|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=2008-03-13|author=Linda Tischler|work=Fox Business] Cite web|url=http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2006/10/national_design.html|title=National Design Week Begins Today, Supported by Target|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=2006-10-16|author=Bruce Nussbaum|work=BusinessWeek] The winners of New York City's bike rack competition are scheduled to be announced at the third annual National Design Week in October 2008Cite web|url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/city-says-bike-racks-are-due-for-a-makeover/|title=Bike Racks Are Due for a Makeover|accessdate=2008-03-19|year=2008-03-13|author=Jennifer Lee|work=The New York Times] in addition to the balance of the National Design Awards.

ee also

*List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City

References

External links

* [http://www.cooperhewitt.org Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum website]